Be less busy —

Something we work hard to avoid at JAC& is stress. It’s unfortunately common in our industry to consider being busy and stressed as a sign of success. Regular overtime is a given in a lot of studios and agencies, as unrealistic client demands are often met in what should be someone’s time with their family or loved ones. It’s disheartening to see creative businesses championing this tone when the work we do is, for the most part, incredibly enjoyable and rewarding.

Admittedly, very occasionally, it’s unavoidable to become stressed. With small business in particular, there are a lot of hats to balance and from time to time they can topple. The past financial year was one of our busiest at JAC&, we grew the business and settled into a new pace after launching 43 Derby Street. In an effort to retain a sense of calm, we recently reviewed our time-management approach and thought it might be helpful to share with others.

Think big pictureAnd write it down! To understand our current workload we regularly update and print a list of all client work, internal work and potential or upcoming projects. When things become busy (or quiet) this is a useful piece of paper to have around.

ScheduleNo project (external or internal) should be left floating around without a schedule attached to it. At the beginning of each project, we create a schedule for everyone involved to keep on hand. Having agreed dates in place ensures people are on the same page and accountable.

DiariseThe studio diary looks fairly scary with its rainbow of colours and jumble of tasks, there is order in the chaos though! When a project schedule is set, every task associated goes into the diary ahead of time. This ensures there is always adequate time set aside, deadlines are met and conflicts can be avoided.

CommunicateThings happen and life can sometimes get in the way of a perfectly organised diary. When things don’t go to plan, communicate early with clarity. When there is an open and honest dialogue, people are generally understanding and accommodating to change.

This isn’t a groundbreaking approach (and there are plenty of project management apps that could likely automate the process) but it does help us stay calm and productive. Staying organised, in whatever way works for you, allows you to be ‘less busy’, do better work and ultimately enjoy your life without unnecessary stress.

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We’ve recently spent some time reconsidering our purpose and refining our process. We believe it’s important for our clients to understand their why, so it’s only fair that we continue to stay connected with ours.

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JAC& wants to help build businesses that improve the lives of the people who run them.

We believe that a thoughtful approach to branding and marketing plays a big part in achieving ambitions. Our process has been designed to help our clients understand who they are so their audience can too.

In addition to financial satisfaction, we believe that a successful business is one you enjoy working in and on. Through our relationships with our clients, we hope to help them build a better relationship with their working life.

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We strongly encourage our clients and friends to consider their own purpose. Check out slashpurpose.org to help you through the process!

Balancing work, life and hats —

At JAC&, we prioritise life. Understanding that sounds ridiculous (who doesn’t prioritise life?) let’s go a bit further and explain what we mean.

Running a small design studio is challenging. There are no account managers, no financial controllers, no junior designers, no senior designers, no sales people; as the business owner you are all of these things and more. To be clear, there are no complaints here. These challenges offer great reward, it is hugely satisfying when you balance multiple hats on your head well. We also recently built and launched 43 Derby Street – a shared workspace and flexible space for hire – this means more hats. Many more hats.

It would surprise some to learn that despite adding these extra hats, we recently let our clients know that the studio will not be open on Mondays. We still start at 9, finish at 5 and generally don’t succumb to ‘design emergencies’ because we believe those two words don’t belong together.

We don’t feel like we’re letting our clients down or sacrificing the quality of our work. It is a bit of a cliché, but reducing the amount of working hours in the week has simply meant working smarter not harder. This is what working smarter means to us:

Considered planning and organisation. We know what we’re doing today, tomorrow and the next day. Our projects are scheduled and we communicate well and often.

Being thoughtful with decisions and time. We stop to evaluate every action and question whether or not it’s adding value to us or our clients.

Thinking ahead to avoid unexpected outcomes. We work with our clients to scope out projects before starting. This helps us and them understand potential requirements and costs.

Talking openly about intentions and ambitions. We start every conversation here to ensure every step taken is one towards the goal.

Because of our approach, some clients are not the right fit for us and vice/versa. We are selective about the projects we commit to, only entering into relationships that add value to both parties. This does mean that JAC& doesn’t grow at everyone’s ideal pace, it grows at a slow and steady pace which suits us.

With an expanding to-do list and a new employee starting, it’s become more important to reflect on and clarify our values and put them into action. So, we choose to prioritise life. We choose to be considered with our time at work, so we add value to ours and our clients lives. We choose to be at work less, so we can give more time to the people we love.